AGELESS ENERGY - KEEPING YOURSELF FABULOUSLY FIT

High-energy Habits
One in ten of us complains of constant tiredness, but feeling exhausted is not just convenient - it is your body's way of telling you to do something about it before you get sick. Persistent tiredness can cause everything from depression and anaemia to chronic fatigue syndrome, plus if you feel drained all the time you are going to look it, too! It is easy to blame lack of energy on age, but your energy levels actually do not need to drop as you get older. How lively you feel is more in your control than you think.

Eat for energy
We need a constant top-up of quality nutrients so our bodies can convert them to fuel, and making changes to your diet can have a massive effect on your energy levels. The simplest way to increase your stamina is to eat a healthy breakfast. Protein helps wake up your brain, making eggs the perfect way to start the day. Dehydration is a major cause of fatigue, so make sure you drink the recommended two litres of water a day.

For sustained energy, you cannot beat protein-rich foods like lean meat, cheese oily fish and tofu (vegetarians can choose brown rice, oats, lentils, nuts and seeds). And eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, or whizz them up in a blender to make energy-packed juices. For a sustained midday energy boost, go for dried fruit like dates, apricots and raisins, or pumpkin and sunflower seeds. And snack on potassium-packed foods such oranges, bananas and peanut butter.

Eat for endurance
Any food that gives you a quick-fix energy boost will soon send you crashing. Sugar, caffeine, fizzy drinks (including so-called energy drinks) and white foods like bread, pasta and cakes will drain your energy. Save wheat-based meals for evenings, as they may make you sleepy. Smaller meals eaten throughout the day will keep your energy levels constant, unlike a large meal, which will wear you out digesting it.

Allow yourself one day to do as little as humanly possible. Relax in your pyjamas. Go for a walk. Read in bed. Having a long bath. Indulge yourself.

Keep fit
Never underestimate the power of exercising, which will up your energy levels for at least two hours afterwards. Just a 30-minute walk in the fresh air will produce enough oxygen to boost your energy levels. Sufficient sleep is also vital for energy.

Detox your diet
Reduce the number of toxins in your body, because they produce energy-sapping free radicals.

Recharge your batteries
Low energy can also be a sign of what is going on inside your head. The red blood cells of depressed and stressed people carry less oxygen, and the less oxygen in your blood, the less energy in your body. Stop asking too much of yourself and take regular time off. You only have a certain amount of energy, so if you keep giving out then you are going to need to recharge. Allow yourself one day to do as little as humanly possible. Relax in your pyjamas. Go for a walk. Read in bed. Have a long bath. Indulge yourself and be rather than do for one day.

Nurture feel-good friendships
We connect with each other through energy, so do not hang around with negative people who drain you, and save time for friends who make you feel good. If you have to spend time with someone who saps your energy, imagine putting up an invisible barrier to keep their negativity away.

Expend energy wisely
Managing your energy is far more important than managing your time, so use it consciously. Every day, decide how you are going to use your reserve. Ask yourself: Is what I'm doing important to me right now? Look at your life and see what you really value in it, then prioritize those people and activities








It takes only seconds to link up energetically to what you're focusing on, which makes our thoughts incredibly powerful. Every time you make your thoughts feel better, you raise your energy level.

Turn up your Frequency
When you meet someone for the first time, it is their energy you are attracted to - or not. If you are introduced to a new person who does nothing but moan, chances are you will be desperate to get away. The energy that flows out of you comes form our emotions, and like attracts like. If we spend our time feeling 'up', our emotions send out high-frequency vibrations that draw anything (or anyone) with the same frequency right back to us. But if we spend our time thinking about what is wrong, those low-frequency feelings are going to attract more of the same. Just as tuning forks in the same room set off with a matching vibration, so you attract more of your own.

It takes only seconds to link up energetically to whatever you are focusing on, which makes our thoughts incredibly powerful. Luckily you can manipulate them when they are not feeling so good, and every time you make your thoughts feel better, you are raising your energy level. Be aware of how a thought is making you feel: good or bad? Then ask yourself: If it was up to me, how would I choose to feel about this situation? Choose something better and you become the creator of your thoughts rather than the victim.

So, how do you stop a negative thought? Simply by thinking about something that gives you pleasure. Our bodies contain endorphins, which manufacture positive emotions, and the spontaneous release you get when you are happy can be manipulated just by thinking a happy thought. The moment you catch yourself focusing on what is wrong, make yourself find something good to think about (this can be anything that gives you good feeling) and stay there until you feel your mood begin to change. Then make this thought more vivid in your mind until you begin to feel exactly what you experienced at the time.

The only power problems have over us is the power we give them. If you want something, it is no good staying stuck in what you have not got. You have got to feel the excitement of what you want. So, if you are desperate for a new job, do not obsess about how much you hate your current one, but get excited at the prospect of a better one. And if your partner is distant, do not focus on what he does not do for you, but on what he does - and what you have like him to do in the future.

Both of these are far more likely to get you what you want. Prospective employers will respond to you more positively (not to mention your current employer). And your partner will want to spend time with the positive you, rather than the moaning version. The only way to stop the not-so-good stuff in your life getting worse is to stop focusing on it. After all, do you want to be that party guest everyone tries to escape, or the person everyone wants to know?

Take a Deep Breath
Anti-ageing breathing
Every time you breathe you inhale oxygen into your bloodstream and exhale toxic waste from your cells. Oxygen has a healthy, alkaline effect, which energizes your whole body, improves skin tone and fights disease, while carbon dioxide is acid-forming. This sounds perfect, but daily stress causes most of us to take in only a third of our lung capacity, which means a lot of waste is never expelled.

Shallow breathing can cause your lungs to lose their elasticity, leading to problems such as bronchitis and asthma. But begin breathing properly and you will instantly look and feel better. Abdominal breathing works as a free anti-ager, by not only energizing your whole body but also expanding your left-out lower lungs. It also encourages better digestion and helps fight the bacterial and fungal infections that thrive when there is not much oxygen around. Wherever you are, try this belly breath now.

1. Put your hand just below your tummy button, breathe in through your nose and feel your stomach inflate.
2. Breathe lightly and gently so your shoulders stay relaxed, then exhale through your mouth, feeling your hand fall.

Do this any time you are stressed and you will notice how much more relaxed you feel. It is also the perfect way to end the day, especially when you are lying in bed at night, as it calms your heart rate, helping you drift off to sleep. Long term, improve your breathing with yoga. Pilates or a gentle martial art; they are all based on movement with slow, steady breathing. Or sing along to a CD, which will increase your lung capacity and make you breathe more deeply.

Stay-young meditation
Regular meditation reduces the amount of adrenaline and cortisol, the stress hormones that speed up ageing, in your body. It also increases the level of DHEA, a hormone that declines with age (low levels are linked to a risk of heart disease, osteoporosis and breast cancer). In studies, a group of 50-year-old meditators even experienced 12-year decrease in their biological age. Meditation also calms your mind and eases muscle tension, making it the perfect slow-down in a speedy world.

The basis of all meditation is switching your brainwaves from their normal busy beta state to a more relaxed alpha state. Just like abdominal breathing meditation is free, but how do you find the time? Simple. Rather than waiting or that uninterrupted, quiet moment in life (which never comes), use meditation to switch off from an otherwise mad world. It is the perfect way to spend your commute or any other 'dead time'. Just sit comfortably with arms and legs uncrossed and eyes closed. Start to breathe gently and imagine your body relaxing.

Transcendental meditation gives you a mantra to repeat silently over an over to help quieten your internal chatter (any two-syllable, soothing word will do). As you repeat it, focus on your breathing which will slow and settle in time with your words. When thoughts (or external noises) break through, simply acknowledge them and go back to your mantra. Aim for 15-20 minutes, and come out of it slowly, as your mind will want a few minutes to readjust. This is also a great technique to try when you are lying in bed with a racing brain that won't let you sleep.

Here's the shift. Instead of aiming for perfection, just aim to do your best. Rather than use them to procrastinate, decide to learn from your mistakes so don't repeat them next time.

Energy Sappers
If you are one of the types below, your behaviour will be seriously sapping your energy, so do yourself a favour and stop sabotaging yourself. It may take time to change your (lifelong?) habit, but the results will change your life forever.

Perfectionist
You are making your life far harder than it has to be by constantly aiming for the impossible. You know you cannot really be perfect, and by fearing anything less you probably never start (or finish) half of what you would like to. Think of someone you admire. Are they perfect? Probably not, but you still respect them, so why shouldn't others feel the same about you? You need to think about how much your perfectionism affects your life and whether it makes you happy. Again, probably not. So here's the shift. Instead of aiming for perfection, just aim to do your best. So there may be minor imperfections, but are the consequences really that terrible? Rather than use them to procrastinate ('I will just do it one more time'), decide to learn from your mistakes so you do not repeat them next time.

Control freak
Control freaks are very hard to live with. Your message to others is that you cannot trust them to do anything as well as you can. A need for control often hides a fear of feeling out of control, and the anxiety that causes can be exhausting. How much more energy do you have to utilize, compared with others? Your first step is to understand why you seek to control your environment. All of us want to feel some measure of control over our lives, but when everything (and everyone) has to go your way, you are heading for trouble. Ask yourself. When did you feel helpless? Are you the same person now? Why do you still need to control everything to feel safe? What is the worst that can happen if you let go? Practise consciously handing over the responsibility occasionally and see what happens. Does the sky fall in, or do you just get to relax once in a while?

Adrenaline junkie
Running on adrenaline makes you speak fast and act stupid. You have no patience with others and often leave everything until the last minute. You are nearly always late and have at lease four irate incidents by the time you get there.

Adrenaline addicts can get to miss the stress when there is no pressure to perform, but long term you are heading for disaster (if not an early grave). There are never enough hours in the day, but how much time this week have you spent on activities that have no meaning to you? Aren't you more important? Often a chaotic mind is also a way to distract yourself from doing what you really want to, or facing up to a long-forgotten truth. Ask yourself: What would you regret not doing if you carry on living the way you do now? Then clear some space to get started. Convincing yourself that every second of your life has to be filled is also a way to feel successful or popular: But who taught you to feel guilty for doing nothing? A much healthier plain is to decide what activities are most important to you and drop the rest, so you have time to recharge your batteries.